Tell us what you think! We are conducting a trial for a service to provide book reviews from Booklist, Choice, Publisher’s Weekly, and Library Journal. These reviews are available in the Tripod Catalog for titles reviewed by those sources. Most of the reviews are for titles published within the last 10 years, though a few go back as far as the mid 1980’s.

Some examples include:

The Paradox of Choice : Why More is Less / Barry Schwartz

http://tripod.brynmawr.edu/record=b2654429

In Defense of Food : an Eater's Manifesto / Michael Pollan
http://tripod.brynmawr.edu/record=b3298770

http://tripod.brynmawr.edu/record=b2974723


Are reviews helpful to you as a student, faculty member, or researcher?

Let us know. We’d love to hear from you!

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One of the many things we've learned from the Tripod survey conducted a few weeks ago was that our students often use other sites (like Amazon) to find the exact title of a work, so that they can then look it up in our catalog.  In order to make that process a little easier (as we work on more long term solutions), we've developed a few handy bookmarklets.

A bookmarklet looks like a link on a webpage or a bookmark in a browser, but it adds "one click functionality".  Basically, you can search Tripod from any website with just one click.  Watch this really short video to see them in action or read on!

To install a bookmarklet in Firefox or Safari, just drag the link below into to your bookmark bar or right click and select Bookmark this link.  In Internet Explorer, right click the link and select Add to favorites.

To use them, just highlight some interesting text on a page, then click the bookmarklet.  Tripod searches for those terms and presents you with the results.  That easy.

Search Tripod - Keyword

• Firefox: Tripod - Keyword
  
• Internet Explorer: Tripod - Keyword
  
• Safari: Tripod - Keyword

Search Tripod - Title

• Firefox: Tripod - Title
  
• Internet Explorer: Tripod - Title
  
• Safari: Tripod - Title

Google Scholar Search - We didn't make these, but we thought you might like them too.

• Firefox: Scholar Search
• Internet Explorer: Scholar Search
• Safari: Scholar Search

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Fall is here, and students and faculty are returning (or arriving for the first time). For everyone who's new to Tripod, the libraries' catalog, and for everyone who's used it but hasn't tried all the bells and whistles, here's a short guide to some of the features you may not know about.

« Continue reading "Top 10 things you (probably) didn't know you could do with Tripod" »

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• Forgot a pen today
• Ran out of writing space on their hands
• Just think anything with buttons is cooler

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New!

You can now search Tripod directly from the search box on your Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 menu bar.

We've created an easy-to-install search plugin that will assist you. 

Try it today!

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Now when you search for a Electronic Journal, Video, or piece of music, you'll be able to see additional information in the results display. 

Not sure which Columbia Law Review you want, more information is now available on the browse screen. Prefer Steve McQueen to Pierce Brosnan version of the Thomas Crown Affair, now you don't have to click on the record.  It even works on The Magic Flute!

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 [note: the 'find it' service was formerly known as 'more']

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Notice anything different when you search Tripod these days?  Thanks to your suggestions, we've made two changes to the default search of our favorite library catalog:

• The default search is a KEYWORD search, instead of a Title search. (You can switch back to a Title search via the drop-down menu.)
• The results will be presented in order of RELEVANCE, instead of by date.  This should bring items with your keywords in the book's author or title to the top of the list; items with your search terms in the chapter authors or titles will be ranked lower.

As in a Google search, you can enter as many terms as you want, mixing author, subject, and title words as you please (e.g., andy warhol pop art).  Use quotes to search for multiple words as a phrase (e.g., "pride and prejudice").

We hope that these changes will improve your experience with Tripod.  Please give the new Tripod a try, and let us know what you think!

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What do you like about Tripod?  What do you hate?  What do other websites do that you wish Tripod could do?

The librarians are listening...  Post a comment!

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Have you ever wished that the Library would somehow just know when you’d be interested in a newly-arrived item and deliver it directly to your office or dorm room?  Well, we’re not there yet, but we are one step closer with a new Tripod service called Preferred Searches.

When you activate Preferred Searches for your account, Tripod will allow you to save searches to be run again later.  If you choose the email option, Tripod will automatically send you an email notification when new items arrive which meet your preferred search criteria.

To set up a preferred search:

1. Go to the Tripod login page: http://tripod.brynmawr.edu/patroninfo/.
2. Login using your name/barcode.
3. Do a search in Tripod.
4. Click on the "Save as Preferred Search" button located next to the "Sort" options at the top of the page.
5. To set up your Tripod account to send an email alert when new items arrive which fit the preferred search criteria, click the “your record” button, choose the 'preferred searches' button and mark the email option.

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Last year the Tri-College libraries subscribed to a service that provides first chapters/excerpts of some books in Tripod, for example:

Renewal time is upon us.

Do you find the first chapters/excerpts useful?

Do you think we should renew the service?

For more examples of first chapters/excerpts, see:

• Paradox of choice
• What's the matter with Kansas?
• Van Nostrand's encyclopedia of chemistry
• Dear sisters : dispatches from the women's liberation movement

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"Haven't I seen that DVD before?"  "What was the name of that book about monkeys I took out last semester?"  Has this ever happened to you?  We have the answer!

Announcing a cool new Tripod feature: your Reading History!  If you choose to activate this service, Tripod will automatically keep a running list of all the books, videos, music, etc. that you borrow from the libraries, even after you return them. 

You can easily remove individual items from the list, or clear the whole list with a few clicks -- just check the boxes and click "Delete Marked." 

To access this feature, click Login at the top of the Tripod screen.   After logging in, click the "reading history" button, and then "opt in."  Everything you check out from that point on will go on the list.  Then, any time you log in in the future, you can check out the list.  As always, you can click Items Currently Checked Out to view and renew the things you've borrowed.

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